Two of our students were recognized for their work in the 2018 UA ESPRMC Graduate Research Symposium:
Brian Rivera, second year PhD student in the Ed Psych / Ed Neuro program & the ELDEN Lab, won the Outstanding Paper Presentation Award, for his paper, titled "ERP Mass Univariate Analysis of Fraction Magnitude Comparison." Nan Mu, second year PhD student in the Ed Psych / Ed Neuro program & the ECS Lab, received an Honorable Mention for her poster presentation, titled "Examining Neural Activation During Music Perception and Imagination Using EEG Signals." Congrats to Brian and Nan! Hyemin Han received a University of Alabama Level 1 RGC grant, titled "Why Do Some Stories of Moral Exemplars Increase Prosocial Behavior? —Neuroimaging Study." Here is the abstract for his study:
The proposed research project aims to study when and why people are motivated to emulate moral saints, heroes, and other exemplars by conducting neuroimaging experiments. The proposed research project will examine how different types of moral stories, attainable-relevant versus unattainable-irrelevant stories, differently influence motivational processes associated with moral and prosocial behavior among participants at the behavioral and neural levels. By comparing behavioral and neural influences between different types of moral stories, I intend to consider which type of moral stories can effectively promote prosocial motivation. Congrats to Dr. Han for this great accomplishment! Firat Soylu's research on numerical cognition was featured in a UA News article: https://www.ua.edu/news/2018/03/this-many/
The story was also picked up by several other news websites: http://neurosciencenews.com/math-fingers-8682/ https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-03-relationship-early-math-ability-fingers.html http://www.chinatimes.com/realtimenews/20180327002147-260405 (Chinese) technews.tw/2018/03/26/finger-sense-arithmetic-ability-math-cognition/ (Chinese)
The John Templeton Foundation invited Dr. Han to a meeting for moral exemplarity and character virtue development as a commentator. Dr. Han will be attending the meeting between January 21st-22nd 2018 in Marina Del Rey, CA. He will discuss how to utilize the stories of moral exemplars in moral education to promote students' moral motivation effectively.
Related links: The Beacon Project at Wake Forest University Exemplarist Moral Theory by Linda Zagzebski The Power of Ideals: The Real Story of Moral Choice by William Damon and Anne Colby The UA Educational Neuroscience PhD Concentration is recruiting PhD students for Fall 2018!10/6/2017
The University of Alabama invites applications for its unique interdisciplinary Educational Neuroscience PhD Concentration (edneuro.ua.edu). As part of the educational Psychology Ph.D. program, the concentration emphasizes the cognitive, affective, and neural mechanisms of learning as well as exploration of educational implications in one or more domains (e.g., math learning and numerical cognition, science education, reading and literacy, second language learning and bilingualism, morality education, learning disorders). Faculty in the educational neuroscience concentration use behavioral methods (eyetracking) and neuroimaging techniques (EEG, fMRI, fNIRS) to examine the neural bases of learning in populations varying in age, expertise, and diagnosis. The educational neuroscience concentration is highly collaborative; faculty and students routinely work together to conduct innovative research spanning their content and methodological expertise, resulting in an intellectually stimulating and collegial environment.
Faculty in the educational neuroscience concentration (*actively recruiting for 2018-2019): *Dr. Laura Morett (lmorett@ua.edu): Neurobiology of language, embodied cognition, second language acquisition, autism spectrum disorders, developmental cognitive neuroscience. Lab website: http://nerdlab.ua.edu/ *Dr. Audrey Lustig Michal (almichal@ua.edu): Visuospatial processing, STEM learning, data visualizations, diagrams, cognitive neuroscience, scientific reasoning. Lab website: http://steplab.ua.edu/ *Dr. Hyemin Han (hyemin.han@ua.edu): Educational neuroscience, social neuroscience, social development, positive psychology, computational simulation, educational intervention. Lab website: http://seed.ua.edu/ Dr. Lisa Hsin (lisa.b.hsin@ua.edu): Cognitive development, bilingualism, adolescent literacy, language acquisition, psycholinguistics. Lab website: http://ecs.ua.edu/ Dr. Firat Soylu (fsoylu@ua.edu): Educational neuroscience, numerical cognition, STEM learning, embodied cognition, learning design. Lab website: http://elden.ua.edu Dr. Stephen Thoma (sthoma@ua.edu): Moral judgement development, personality and social development, neuropsychology of moral reasoning and decision making. Lab website: http://ethicaldevelopment.ua.edu/ Prospective students are encouraged to visit the websites of faculty members listed above (http://edneuro.ua.edu/people) to learn more about their research and to contact them via email with questions. For general questions about the Educational Psychology Ph.D. program and admission requirements, prospective students may contact the Program Coordinator, Dr. Steve Thoma (sthoma@ua.edu). The University of Alabama is located in Tuscaloosa, a city of approximately 100,000 residents in western central Alabama. Aside from hosting the winningest football team in the Southeastern Conference (Roll Tide!), Tuscaloosa offers a low cost of living and Southern hospitality and charm complemented by a vibrant downtown with a variety of restaurants and family-owned shops, a farmer’s market, an outdoor amphitheater, and a folk art center and festival. Proximity to several state parks and the Gulf Shore provide numerous possibilities for outdoor activities including hiking, mountain biking, trail running, spelunking, fishing, and camping. Nearby cities include Birmingham (< 1 hr.), Atlanta (2.5 hrs.), Chattanooga (3 hrs.), Nashville (3.5 hrs.), Memphis (4 hrs.), and Knoxville (4 hrs.). Review of applications for fall 2018 admission will begin on January 15 and will continue until April 15. For best consideration for fellowships and graduate assistantships, please apply by January 21. Applications are accepted online via the following website:http://graduate.ua.edu/prospects/application/. Dr. Laura Morett and Nate Shannon will be attending the ERP Boot Camp at the UC-Davis Center for Mind & Brain, held July 10 - 19, 2017.
Nate Shannon, first year PhD student in the Ed Psych / Ed Neuro Concentration, was accorded with an Honorable Mention by the NSF GRF program. Congrats Nate!
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